10 MAR 2017 by ideonexus
Gamification Pattern Building Mechanic
Ms. Forsythe divides her class into four teams (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome). Each team, over the course of the unit, learns about all four artistic cultures but becomes an expert in one. For a 20- to 30-minute exercise in discerning and judging the difference among these artistic cultures, Ms. Forsythe displays a piece of sculpture from each of the four cultures onto a large piece of heavy paper or cardboard and then cuts that image into smaller tiles and tosses all of the pieces to...Folksonomies: education gamification
Folksonomies: education gamification
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notes24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
All Human Acheivement is the Result of Networking
Human achievement is entirely a networking phenomenon. It is by putting brains together through the division of labor—through trade and specialization—that human society stumbled upon a way to raise the living standards, carrying capacity, technological virtuosity, and knowledge base of the species. We can see this in all sorts of phenomena: the correlation between technology and connected population size in Pacific islands; the collapse of technology in people who became isolated, like n...
1 Matt Ridley observes that isolated societies collapse, while networked societies succeed.
30 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
Aristotle as the First Scientist
Aristotle repeatedly pointed out that his predecessors' work and conclusions were often marred by insufficient observation. He himself, after a remarkable analysis of the reproduction of bees, states that he cannot arrive at certain conclusions because "the facts have not yet been sufficiently ascertained. And if at any future time they are ascertained, then credence must be given to the direct evidence rather than to the theories; and to the theories also, provided that the results which the... 1 notes
notesClassification of animals, empirical observations... he got much wrong, but to call into question his achievements for this is like criticizing the invention of Calculus because Newton believed in magic.
28 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Combinatory Analysis in the IChing
Combinatory analysis refers to a group of techniques that can be used to determine the number of elements in a particular setwith- out having to count them one-by-one. Theelements in question could be the results froma scientific experiment or the different potential outcomes of a random event.
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Combinatory analysis has interestedmathe- maticians forcenturies.According toTakacs (1982), such analysis dates back to ancient Greece. However, the Hindus, the Per- sians (includingthe poet an... 1 notes
notesAnd in another ancient Chinese text.
22 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
A Brief History of Signals
Prior to the advent of practical electrical communication, human beings had been signaling over a distance in all kinds of ways. The bell in the church tower called people to religious services or “for whom the bell tolls”—the announcement of a death. We knew a priori several things about church bells. We knew approximately when services were to begin, and we knew that a long, slow tolling of the bells announced death. Thus we could distinguish one from the other, namely a call to relig...Folksonomies: communications signals
Folksonomies: communications signals
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notesFrom church bells, speech, body language, semaphores, fires, and smoke signals.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Post-Modernism in Ancient Thought
In the midst of the decline of Greece, Athens, which, in the days of its power, had honoured philosophy and letters, owed to them, in its turn, the preserving for a longer period some remains of its ancient splendour. In its tribune, indeed, the destinies of Greece and Asia were no longer decided; it was, however, in the schools of Athens that the Romans acquired the secrets of eloquence; and it was at the feet of Demosthenes’ lamp that the first of their orators was formed.
The academy, t... 1 notes
notesWith the idea that nothing is knowable, philosophy fell into a rut. Aristotle came along with the brilliant idea that everything we know comes through our senses, but failed to take that idea anywhere useful.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Rise and Fall of Greek Science
This fortunate circumstance, still more than political freedom, wrought in the human mind, among the Greeks, an independance, the surest pledge of the rapidity and greatness of its future progress.
In the mean time their learned men, their sages, as they were called, but who soon took the more modest appellation of philosophers, or friends of science and wisdom, wandered in the immensity of the two vast and comprehensive plan which they had embraced. They were desirous of penetrating both th... 1 notes
notesCondorcet chronicles the Greek sciences, with their propensity for for philosophizing and fantasy, ending with Socrates, who demanded empiricism.
01 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The 12-Note Octave is Too Good to be True
[Playing notes on a piano] One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten... Eleven... Twelve...
12 different pitches, and then back to where we began. Incredible! Fantastic! The mystical number 12. There are 12 hours in the A.M. and 12 hours in the P.M. The new day begins at 12 midnight. There are 12 months in a year. Both the Western and Chinese Zodiac have 12 signs. Further, the Chinese use a 12-year cycle for reckoning time. There are 12 eggs in a dozen. 12 d... 1 notes
notesThe number 12 seems so perfect, but a 12-note scale made of 3/2 ratios brings the circle around to a point a little sharper than the the next octave.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Scientific Knowledge is the Only Thing That Gets Better
No history of civilization can be tolerably complete which does not give considerable space to the explanation of scientific progress. If we had any doubts about this, it would suffice to ask ourselves what constitutes the essential difference between our and earlier civilizations. Throughout the course of history, in every period, and in almost every country, we find a small number of saints, of great artists, of men of science. The saints of to-day are not necessarily more saintly than thos...Art, religion, and scientists are all of the same caliber throughout history, the only difference is the wealth of knowledge they have access to grows larger all the time.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Early Environmentalism
he ravages committed by man subvert the relations and destroy the balance which nature had established between her organized and her inorganic creations; and she avenges herself upon the intruder, by letting loose upon her defaced provinces destructive energies hitherto kept in check by organic forces destined to be his best auxiliaries, but which he has unwisely dispersed and driven from the field of action. When the forest is gone, the great reservoir of moisture stored up in its vegetable ...Folksonomies: environmentalism
Folksonomies: environmentalism
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notesA scientist sees the damage being done by man to the environment with amazing prescience.
